Training Check-In

Today was a good day! The semester is now in full swing. My classes are started up and my schedule is very, very busy.

This morning I got up at 6am and went downstairs for a quick 3 miles on the treadmill. I didn’t push my pace since I’m just getting back into things after traveling and I’m still a little out of whack, but it was a comfortable 3 miles in 29:10 (9:43/mile). I did the first .75 miles in my Vibrams and they felt excellent. It’s been a while since I ran in them, so I need to work my mileage back up, but I intend to work my mileage up to a point where I can actually do my long runs in them. I’m hoping that by the time May rolls around I’ll be able to run the full 26.2 in them.

After a full day of work I headed over to the gym to get my first day of lifting in. I’m following the New Rules of Lifting for Women program. If you haven’t read it, go track it down. It’s excellent!

I got to the gym and my locker and when I opened it I realized I had everything I needed, except a shirt. And I wore a sweater and nice button down shirt to work. No good for the gym. 😦

I knew if I went home to get one, there was no way I would go back out to the gym, so I wandered up to the front desk and managed to beg my way into a free t-shirt! It was a large, and a tad ridiculous, but hey, it’s a shirt!

So tonight was New Rules workout #1. It didn’t take super long – the first few stages are fairly short workouts. But I always love the way I feel after lifting. It’s incredible how quickly I feel and see results. So I’m excited to be getting back into it again!

I’m really happy to be training again. It makes me feel like I’m doing something with my time and I’m taking better care of myself. I’m determined to train the right way this time. I made it through the Adirondack Marathon and it was a blast, but I didn’t train the way I should have. Strength training and cross training are such important parts of a proper training schedule, and they give you some pretty important benefits that you just can’t get through running alone. I’m looking forward to seeing how much faster and stronger I can get now that I’m including these things into my training. It’s hard to fit them in, but that’s just part of training. You need to make time for it. When I’m not doing those things, I spend an obscene amount of time sitting around watching TV or playing on my computer every night. Time that I could be spending doing something that’s good for me.